Goat meat butchered despite the heat and the flies is usually reserved for naming ceremonies and weddings, but can be purchased by the wealthier citizens of Safo.
Though the boy of this doll has rotted away, its one eye gives it a ghostly appearance. It remains a favorite toy , to be dabbed with paint and hung from bushes when not used as a ball.
As in any impoverished community, toys are makeshift and valued. Cars are fashioned from coat hangers, and abandoned bicycle tires are rolled through the desert.
Niger, one of the world's poorest countries, has one of the highest rates of preventable diseases. This child, who was not inoculated with polio vaccine, must crawl to chase after his friend.
Despite , and perhaps because of, the highest infant mortality rate, women lavish a great deal of affection on their infant children. On of these women, though she suffers depressive illness, comforts her crying baby.